Generally, a brake operating device used with a drop-type handle comprises an operating lever pivoted through its lever shaft to a bracket member fixed to the handle, a retainer fixed to one end of a control wire and supported to the lever, and a through bore provided at the upper portion of a front wall at the bracket member, the through bore allowing the wire to pass therethrough and supporting an outer stop for an outer sheath guiding the wire.
In such a construction, since the control wire and outer sheath cannot be bent in a small curvature along the handle, they project unavoidably outwardly to a large degree from the handle so as to hinder a driver's operation of a bicycle.
Occasionally, the driver steers the bicycle while gripping the bracket member of the brake operating device which is mounted on the bent portion of the handle, so that the bracket member together with a cover therefor is desirably designed with an easily gripping shape, but in the conventional device, the control wire and outer sheath are drawn out from the front wall of the bracket member and the stop therefor projects from the same. As a result, a problem is created in that there is little freedom in the design of such construction.
Furthermore, if the control wire retained to the lever through the retainer is intended to be exchanged, even when the retainer is removed from the lever, it is difficult to disconnect the wire from the retainer and draw it out of the bracket member, which will take much time to exchange the wire.